1. Regarding the thought processes surrounding adding Erik Cole and Marek Zidlicky, the "state of the team" as he and Mike Babcock view it;

2. The reasons why the team's demoted Teemu Pulkkinen (Babcock told Holland Pulkkinen wouldn't be in the lineup on Wednesday) and Petr Mrazek--so that they play and don't sit [edit: and Holland said it's Babcock's decision as to whether Marchenko will remain in Detroit when he heals from his oblique muscle injury /end edit];

3. Holland both acknowledged that the team feels that the Zetterbergs, Datsyuks and Kronwalls won't get many more chances at making a deep run and/or Cup run, which the team hopes to do this year;

4. And Holland also suggested that some of the non-starters trade-wise were the Wings' next generation in Andreas Athanasiou, Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Pulkkinen, Xavier Ouellet, Alexey Marchenko, Ryan Sproul and Mrazek. This is really great stuff:

Updated 5x at 3:18 PM: As Paul noted, the Red Wings practiced at Joe Louis Arena with Marek Zidlicky and Erik Cole in tow, and there was quite the push of media at the Joe to cover the "new guys" as well as the new lines.

Pulkkinen has skated in 12 games with the Red Wings this season, scoring two goals and tallying 27 shots on goal. When he was recalled by Detroit on Feb. 17, he was leading the AHL in both goals (30) and points (57) and still sits first and second in those categories, respectively. The 23-year-old winger also leads the Griffins with 10 power-play goals and six game-winning goals. A native of Vantaa, Finland, Pulkkinen has totaled 117 points (61-56-117) and 64 penalty minutes in 117 career AHL games since 2012-13. Prior to coming to North America, the former fourth-round pick (111th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft) registered 128 points (48-79-128) in 185 professional games with Jokerit of Finland’s SM-Liiga from 2009-13 and was honored as the league’s rookie of the year in 2010-11.

The Signature Series goes beyond your typical corporate-licensed hockey apparel to offer fans an exclusive and more personal connection to Tomáš Tatar. “We’ve co-developed high-end, designer hockey-wear that incorporates Tomáš’ personality, interests, and background,” said Matt Marini, CEO and co-founder of PUCK HCKY, a Michigan-based hockey brand development firm. “The Tatar Signature Series has a wide variety of designs, including a hand-drawn image of one of Tomáš’ tattoos and an abstract likeness of Tomáš that is already a fan favorite; each image was designed to reflect Tomáš’ fun-loving, charismatic personality and Slovak heritage.”

This is worthy of stand-alone entry status: Red Wings executive Kris Draper spoke with The Fan 590's Sportsnet Tonight's Jeff Samut and Ben Ennis fourteen minutes, discussing the Red Wings' deadline moves, and around the 2-minute mark, he very delicately dances around any possible discussions regarding one Dion Phaneuf, suggesting that the Wings had to move a roster player and a top prospect to acquire...a certain left-shooting defenseman:

This is really fantastic stuff. Draper talks about the financial aspects of the Cole and Zidlicky trades, Marchenko's play and the Wings' blueline depth, the Wings' West Coast road trip as it determined the course of the Wings' trade decisions (as a statement to the locker room that the Wings' players merited reinforcements) and the thought processes involved in making trades. There's a cursory amount of praise for the passion of the Toronto market and fans as well.

Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos said that the Maple Leafs asked for Anthony Mantha and a 1st round pick, and that's why the Wings didn't make a trade for Dion Phaneuf. Earlier this evening, the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch said that the Leafs not only weren't willing to take on Stephen Weiss's salary, but that they also wanted a "core player off Detroit's roster" that wasn't Jakub Kindl (apparently part of the Wings' offer) to consummate the transaction. Most recently, the Toronto Star's Rosie Dimanno suggested that the Wings were offering Brendan Smith as the key part of the trade, and that the Leafs weren't interested in Smith and whatever else Detroit was offering in exchange for eating part of Phaneuf's salary.

Whatever happened or did not happen, we know that the Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs were talking about bringing Mr. and Mrs. Cuthbert to the Motor City, and we know that, as the National Post's Michael Traikos suggested, the Wings and Leafs will revisit their conversation at the NHL Entry Draft or at some point after both teams' seasons have ended (Toronto's hopefully much earlier than Detroit's), when the stakes for both teams aren't nearly as high as they are presently, and the Leafs don't have to save as much face while extricating themselves from 6 more years of a $7 million Phaneuf cap hit that the Wings seem willing to absorb if the price is right.

Instead, the Wings snagged Erik Cole from Dallas and picked up the slow-footed but slick Marek Zidlicky from New Jersey, both to robust approval.

Make no mistake the Detroit Red Wings had serious talks with the Leafs about Phaneuf but they couldn't make the deal work. The word is Jakub Kindl would have been in the trade and it's believed that the Wings would have insisted the Leafs take back Stephen Weiss as part of any trade.

The Leafs wanted a core player off Detroit's roster to make the deal happen.

Naturally, it didn't happen. Why? The cap hit of $7 million through 2020-21 is a big issue for every team and the Leafs were trying to make a hockey deal even if they're going to rebuild. The Ducks and Kings also investigated the possibility of bringing in Phaneuf but couldn't do it either.

That could have been the deal that saved the day. It, and a lot of others, didn't happen. Instead, fans had to be happy there was some small stuff to chew on.

Viacheslav Fetisov
Viacheslav Fetisov is a retired Russian professional ice hockey player who appears in the documentary "Red Army" (2014). During his hockey career, he played defense for HC CSKA Moscow, the New Jersey Devils and the Detroit Wings. He won two back-to-back Stanley Cups and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.

STAMFORD, Conn. – March 2, 2015 – This week’s NHL coverage on NBC and NBCSN features three Original Six matchups with teams jockeying for playoff positioning, beginning with a Wednesday Night Rivalry showdown at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN between Rick Nash and the New York Rangers, and Pavel Datsyuk and the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings will be featured on the NHL Game of the Week on NBC at Noon ET on Sunday, when they travel to Boston to face Milan Lucic and the Bruins. Sunday’s coverage also features an interconference Original Six contest at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, when the Rangers visit Jonathan Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Emmy Award-winning play-by-play commentator and Sports Illustrated 2014 Media Person of the Year Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, analyst Eddie Olczyk and Emmy Award-winning Inside-the-Glass analyst Pierre McGuire will call NBCSN’s Wednesday Night Rivalry matchup between the Rangers and Red Wings. Emrick and McGuire will be on the call for Red Wings-Bruins on the NHL Game of the Week on Sunday.

About The Malik Report

The Malik Report is a destination for all things Red Wings-related. I offer biased, perhaps unprofessional-at-times and verbose coverage of my favorite team, their prospects and developmental affiliates. I've joined the Kukla's Korner family with five years of blogging under my belt, and I hope you'll find almost everything you need to follow your Red Wings at a place where all opinions are created equal and we're all friends, talking about hockey and the team we love to follow.